Okay, that’s a lie. I always prefer to be fashionably late. I know the Jeff Kaplan interview at GDC is very old news. While I had a lot of thought about it at the time, it was mostly the rehash of the same old stuff already out there, and not until I made it into…
Cwofee Twolk
I feel so verklempt. “Let’s go for a coffee” is part of our society. Typically you pick either a greasy spoon, or some fancy overpriced brand variety, and go, sit, drink coffee, and chit chat with a friend (or friends) for a few hours. It could be a date, or just a catch up session…
A New Favorite Data Blog
While navigating the great interwebs of blogs and fansites I came accross this little gem. Simply put, it is a data mining site for WoW. I love data, and in our grand world of MMO secrecy, more data is always good. Since it is straight from the Armory you would have to believe it carries…
Why WAR, Why?
I have an assignment and had to resub to Warhammer. I do a little freelance writing on the side for MMO magazines, and have done some prior levelling guides for the game. Another one came accross my desk, and with the desire to check out what has changed in the game here was the perfect…
I hate you(r) Blog(ger)
When I signed up for blogging, I signed up for drama. I was tired of trolling the WoW General boards for days on end to stick it to those imbeciles, so now I am looking for another outlet. Tesh, my good friend made a post of awards in the newest blog-induced tag scheme that has…
10 Day Trials – What not to do!
Besides topics covered in this semi-rant post previously, I will give one, absolutely cardinal rule on how you will GUARANTEE I will not trial your game. Do not ask me for my Credit Card information. A 10 day trial is for me to see if I like your game, not tether me to a possible…
Happy Birthday, EQ
EQ was my first MMO girlfriend. She was a bit cranky, and demanding on my time, but looking back I wouldn’t change a thing (looking forward is another matter). Those sweet, sweet evenings spent together shaped my gaming expectations and experiences. It is true that you never forget your first. EQ Nostalgia after the break.…
UI Add-ons are bad?
Vacation was nice, thank you for asking. Coming home from vacation is always a bad experience. The plane feels a bit more cramped and the voicemail and email inboxes are a lot more full. I actually tried working through my vacation, dilligently keeping up on my inbox every morning. IHASLAW #1 – for every email you…
I’m on Vacation
Forgot to pop this up last week – I am away on vacation so won’t be checking here for the week. You know, just in case you missed me and stuff. Have a great one, and we will get back to our regularly scheduled program once I return! Thanks, Chris F.
Bet you haven’t been robbed like this!
I was checking my lesser-used email accounts, and turns out an old WoW account had it’s password changed around 5am this morning. I hadn’t used the account in a long time. In fact, I cleaned out the account before I let it go dormant. There was no gear, no cash, nada. Sure enough, my 70…
Gmail is messed up
Lately I have had a ton of weird stuff going on with my loveable Gmail account. It all started with me getting weird emails about a “new” account I set up (although I didn’t). These messages started arriving with services I had signed up to (which I didn’t) from an email address I don’t own…
What’s With the BoP?
I hope that image didn’t burn your eyes out. I am wearing sunglasses. As mentioned I am back playing WoW. My year long hiatus from the game (despite a brief respite to check out the DK starting area) while mucking around in various other MMO’s and SP games wasn’t ended because I missed the game…
Six Shooter Screenshots are Serious Business
Tagged by good friend Tesh over at Tish Tosh Tesh, us periphery folks are now part of the fun. Like Tesh, I’m not going to follow the format as directly. Unlike Tesh, I don’t keep a lot of my screenshots so finding any was quite the effort. I have two problems with screenshots – I…
Canada is Finally #1 at something besides Hockey..
I hate apologizing for lack of writing the past couple of weeks, truth be told I am so swamped with work .You can see this here .Which is a good thing in today’s economic climate I suppose. Also, while reading a lot of other blogs I just haven’t had anything to add to the conversations…
iBlog part 3
I apologize for not updating last week. It was partly because I was swamped while away on business, but also because I didn’t have anything of note to write about. One thing for certain is how incredible the drop in views and reads are when you don’t post. Justifiably so. This is the third post…
Friday Ramblings.
I know it’s not Friday. I was sitting at my computer this morning thinking “hey! It’s Friday!” and it took me a while to realize it isn’t. I have a feeling today will be a long day.
My Favorite Fantasy Classes
This is a fluff post. Nothing to do with game design but I was just reminiscing about my different character classes over the years and which ones stood out. It is in chronological order, not ranked by preference.
Introduce a New Phase in the Development Cycle
Zubon over at Kill Ten Rats made a generic post that is an ultimate truth with MMOs. We all accept and are resigned to the fact that when an MMO launches it will be incomplete and buggy, and we will have to fight through the launch of a game with Rose Coloured Glasses until such…
Cable Subscription VS MMO Subscription – Death Match!
Often I read people critical of the MMO subscription model on blogs and forums, and inevitably someone will chime in with the counterargument “I pay for my cable every month, and I don’t complain if I don’t watch that much tv”. The similarity of course is that both are a flat monthly fee for unlimited…
Image Motivation
I was reading an interesting article called “Doing good or doing well? Image motivation and monetary incentives in behaving prosocially”, which is basically a study by some prominent economists to understand what motivates people to invest time or money in charity work. The basic premise is that people do it to improve their image –…
Numbers Can Fool Us
Is WoW really a cultural phenomenon? Many people think so, spurting the “11.5 million subscriber mark“. Where does that number come from? I found it interesting that Blizzard stopped releasing where the subscribers came from in that press release. When Blizzard announced they hit 10 million, they clearly stated 2M from Europe, 2.5M from North America,…
Missed Marketing Opportunity – Take 2
I had a birthday over the weekend. Actually scaled back working a bit to enjoy it, and what was planned as a nice quiet dinner out with my wife, followed by some quality couch time (with our little one spending the night at Nana’s) turned out to be a full blown surprise party. It was…
Italicized!
Sorry for the main page. Not sure how it got that way, will figure it out. If you can’t stand italics, just click on the blog post and it presents as normal. Somehow only my main page is completely italicized. Must be from patch 3.0.8
Greatest Fantasy Movie Ever
The camera pans from a burning torch, and settles in on a group of weary adventurers. Their swords blood-stained, their armor indented with sword swings from fallen foes. Zoom in on a Dwarven Warrior wiping his blade. “Okay. In the next room lies Grinto, the evil giant. We must be well prepared as he is…
WAR Population Stats
Wow, just WOW! (About WAR though, not WoW.) Just found this post about Warhammer Online’s faction population balance. The crux of it?  Average of All North American Servers   Active Accounts Per Faction: 49% / 51% Relative Average Exp. Earning Rate per Time Unit: 50% / 50% Relative Average RP Earning Rate per Time…